Absolute Correspondence Championship of the United States Chess Federation, The

1976-2010

By Alex Dunne

Absolute Correspondence Championship of the United States Chess Federation, The

McFarland & Company (2012)

330 pages (paperback)

$45.00

Reviewed by John Donaldson

McFarland & Company has long distinguished itself in the chess publishing field by its willingness to put out books on all facets of the game. While many of its colleagues confine themselves to a narrow range of subject manner restricted to opening monographs and improvement books, McFarland is quite different. Its list of titles over the last thirty years covers a wide territory including chess novels, a history of women in chess, game collections and tournament books. One could also mention an unprecedented nine-volume series devoted to crosstables of tournaments held from 1747 to 1960. Clearly there has never been another publisher of chess literature like McFarland and its latest book, The Absolute Correspondence Championship of the United States Chess Federation, 1976-2010 by Alex Dunne, will only add to its reputation.

Dunne, a longtime columnist for Chess Life, has written his second book for McFarland on the premier American correspondence tournament of the past 35 years. Held annually as a round robin invitational, the Absolute Correspondence Championship of the United States Chess Federation has produced a wealth of high quality chess. Dunne has selected 305 of the best games and subjected many of them to a through analysis. Reports and crosstables for each event round out a first rate effort.

Like all McFarland books The Absolute Correspondence Championship of the United States Chess Federation, 1976-2010 has high quality production values. Itís neatly laid out and printed on good quality paper.

Recommended for all those with an interest in correspondence chess or who just enjoy playing over well-annotated good quality games.